Revisiting My Philosophy of Education: Challenges of Teaching English in Puerto Rico
Introduction
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| This image was created using the Dall-E AI image generator based on my essay on Revisiting My Philosophy of Education. |
In 2011, when I was still studying to become an English teacher at the Faculty of Education, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (UPR-RP), I drafted my Philosophy of Education. 13 years later, in 2024, I still stand by that vision, but I find myself rethinking how to apply it because I feel that systemic forces beyond my control prevent me from carrying it out. These obstacles make me question whether I am truly providing my students with the tools to thrive or whether I am unintentionally forcing them into learning in a way that is disconnected from their realities.
Back then, I thought of education as a liberating force that empowers individuals to forge their paths, open their minds, understand how the world works, question the status quo, and change it if they wish. This vision has guided my teaching practice. It is rooted in my belief in developing critical thinking and that every human can control their own life. I have wanted education not to serve as a way to control, coerce, or spread propaganda nor to propagate any specific agenda, whether religious, political, or otherwise. For 10 years, I have given the public school system the benefit of the doubt to see who or what has made this institution so maligned and untrustworthy for educating our nation’s youth. I have found a system that stifles the creativity and freedom I need to enact my philosophical vision, but I have come to realize that the true culprits are its administrators and policymakers.
Challenges in Practice
I do not think it should surprise anyone when I say that, as an English teacher in Puerto Rico, I have had a difficult time reconciling the needs of my students and the requirements of the curriculum implemented by the English Program of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. Directors and some facilitators have pushed me to implement a curriculum that feels deeply disconnected and incongruous with the realities of the students I teach. This has created a dissonance between what the system demands and what my students are prepared to achieve.
Throughout the years, I have found myself battling against a curriculum that emphasizes writing in English, a very complex academic skill, when anywhere from a third to more than half of my students in a typical classroom do not have the basic vocabulary or listening skills to understand the instructions of a simple writing task in English. Early in my teaching, I relied heavily on teaching English using Spanish to be able to explain assignments and guide my students to complete them. Although this approach is commonly used by English teachers in Puerto Rico, many recognize its limitations: it robs our students of the opportunity to refine their listening and comprehension skills in English. I do not want to say that using Spanish is something that teachers should never do, but I recognize that over the years, it has weighed on me and that I have done it out of necessity.
I had hoped to become the teacher who could transmit to my students the English I learned so they could choose what to do with their newfound knowledge and skills. But once more, it should come as no surprise that in the public school system, I have met numerous obstacles in facilitating my students’ learning. These obstacles have been much more than just a lack of educational resources; they have been life-changing events that have shaped and impacted the lives of most Puerto Ricans.
As a new teacher in the system who worked at four different schools during my first four years, I was assigned classrooms with no books, no technology, no printer, and not even a fan to deal with the grueling heat of August in a classroom. I have been told that I cannot make photocopies because the copier was broken, out of ink, or restricted to a certain amount of copies. After so many years of outdated books, I was finally provided with conversational English texts, only to not be given the beginner-level books because they were designated for 6th grade, despite having 8th graders or even 12th graders who required basic English resources. Despite two years of requests, these materials have not been made available, and the online licenses for said books expired before the DEPR shared them with teachers. My frustrations continued, so for a time, I resigned myself to buying my books and some teaching materials out of pocket. I have finally given up on this practice as I have grown tired of spending my money on resources that the DEPR should provide to English teachers.
More recently, I was delivered hundreds of unrequested novels with not enough storage space for them and titles that are of little relevance to my students’ needs. For example, I was given about 80 copies of a novel titled Julie of the Wolves, which I read to test out and concluded that it is a respected novel with a compelling ending. Yet the entire first section of the novel describes a girl who lives in the Arctic in freezing weather with wolves while my students live on a tropical island in the Caribbean. I am left bewildered about how to implement these novels in a classroom where students already face difficulties with the English language. The DEPR seems to have overlooked novels by Puerto Rican, Latino, Caribbean, and other American authors who write about the Puerto Rican experience, works written in Spanglish, translated works, and stories set in Puerto Rico- materials that could facilitate English learning, making it more accessible and culturally relevant for my students.
These challenges have intensified due to bigger events, such as the destruction of Hurricane Maria in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the January 2020 earthquakes. These events have interrupted education in ways that are still being felt in schools all around Puerto Rico. We have had to come to terms with school closures where campuses have been left abandoned and fallen into disrepair and school enrollment being at an all-time low due to migration and budget cuts. Both students, their parents, my colleagues, and the entire island have faced so many collective traumas that go well beyond the teaching of English.
Philosophical Reflection
When I wrote my Philosophy of Education in 2011, I had hoped to be the type of teacher who could help students research whatever knowledge they wanted to gain on their own in English. But with all the challenges of the past 10 years, I am forced to think if I am meeting my students’ needs or unintentionally forcing them to learn a language in ways disconnected from their realities. Are my methods working? Am I truly able to use my teaching practice as a liberating force for my students?
Early on, I was resistant to new forms of technology in the classroom. I admit I felt frustrated when my students handed in work using a translator. For many years, I felt that my biggest struggle and conflict as an English teacher was with Google Translate. Students would input everything they wanted to write in Spanish, whether it be full sentences, entire paragraphs, or even an entire essay. I eventually allowed the use of translators under certain circumstances, as resisting it was futile given the emphasis on writing in our curriculum. However, I have never stopped giving my students the caveat when using this tool: the words in the translator are not your English. With the advent of AI, an even more powerful and advanced tool, I face new challenges day in and day out with teaching students English and helping them see the value of using their own words to write. As hesitant as I may be, I will still find a way to push my students to use these tools responsibly and ethically.
I have also recognized that another challenge has been the realization that some students struggle to master their first language, writing in Spanish. Linguistic theories suggest that a strong foundation in a student’s first language can facilitate second language learning. Proficiency in writing in Spanish is something even some high school students struggle with, and one of my jobs has been to work closely with Spanish language teachers in these efforts.
Despite everything, I am grateful and proud to have become a public school teacher, impacting so many lives and learning so much from my students throughout the years as a classroom teacher. I have also learned a lot about how to adapt to my school community from other teachers, social workers, counselors, librarians, school nurses, janitors, cafeteria workers, and even parents. University professors at the UPR-RP have been instrumental in my development, and the dedicated educators I have met through the non-profit Puerto Rico Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (PRTESOL) have also positively impacted my teaching practice. I owe my expanding knowledge and growing skills in the teaching of English to everyone in the education community in Puerto Rico. Educators and community members alike have shown a firm commitment to public education and the teaching of English in Puerto Rico.
Systemic issues persist. Day in and day out, we, the teachers, continually struggle with unfair payroll deductions due to administrative errors, frequent policy changes, format changes to administrative documents, lack of a proper pension or retirement plan, and mediocre professional development workshops from the DEPR and the companies it hires. These top-down are disconnected from what we face in the classroom and make us question: who are these decision-makers, and why are they so disconnected from what happens in our classrooms and the needs of our students?
Despite this, I continue to adapt. I provide students with appropriate accommodations and differentiated learning to maintain the high standards of public education that I know all of my students deserve. I integrate social studies, math, art, physical education, and science into my lessons and let students pick the topics that interest them. I promote independent reading by letting students borrow books free of charge or rewarding them with bonus points for reading a book in either English or Spanish. I update my lessons from previous years in hopes of refining my craft and creating more interesting activities in the hopes that students stay motivated.
A Call to Action
Unfortunately, I cannot say that administrators and policymakers at the regional and national levels have done their best. I have barely even seen their faces in the past 10 years. I wonder what exactly the administrative and governmental agencies of the DEPR are doing to support English education in Puerto Rico. Are they committed to involving students, teachers, support staff, and community members in conversations about what they want to learn in English and how they visualize English classes in Puerto Rico? Are they content with cherry-picking a few select teachers to work on a curriculum that is disconnected from our realities?
With the governor-elect, Jenniffer Gonzalez, supporting bilingual education in Puerto Rico, I wonder if she and the future Secretary of Education truly understand the challenges that English teachers face in Puerto Rican classrooms. Elementary school English teachers, in particular, face unique difficulties that I cannot fully explain from my position as a secondary-level teacher. I hope my counterparts at the elementary level raise their voices or seek allies like myself to ensure their worries are heard.
Moving forward, English teachers must advocate for policies that are informed by the voices of the school community, the people who are on the front lines, day in and day out, experiencing the realities of our schools. There is a moral imperative to create equity in opportunities for all our students, regardless of their socio-economic background.
I will remain committed to my Philosophy of Education and to teaching English as a way to empower students and use it as a tool to shape their future path. I wonder if this new government and those in power will listen, understand, and act in a way that may let me fulfill my Philosophy of Education- empowering students with English. The question remains whether this government will act or if I will be forced to resign myself to an education system that does not concern itself with the needs of our public school students.
I invite administrators, policymakers, educators, parents, and every citizen of Puerto Rico to an open dialogue where we can collaborate and transform the English curriculum to one that makes sense for our society and our educational context. Together, we can create a Puerto Rico that we can all feel proud of belonging to and that inspires others around the world.
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